It is known in the art to save data in automated data storage libraries comprising a plurality of tape storage media and one or more tape drives. Certain prior art methods are time inefficient when writing a plurality of datasets to a tape storage medium. The prior art methods repetitively employ a “backhitch” method wherein a tape drive moves the tape in a first direction while writing a current dataset, stops the movement of the tape, reverses the movement of the tape to reposition a write head adjacent the end of the current dataset, and then once again moves the tape in the first direction to write a new dataset to the tape storage medium.